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I 



FIRST 



ANNUAL REPORT 



OF THE 



VERMONT ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY, 



PRESENTED AT 



MIDDLEBURY, FEBRUARY 18, 1835. 



MONTPELIER: 

KtfAPP and JEWETT, PRINTERS, 
1835. 

•oxa n 



/8 35 



OFFICERS 






President. 
JOHN IDE, of Waterbury. 

Vice Presidents. 

SAMUEL C. CRAFTS, JOSIAH W. HALE, 

JAMES MILLIGAN, JAMES BALLARD, 

ELISHA BASCOMB, AUSTIN FULLER, 

AUGUSTINE CLARKE, ALVA SABIN, 

JONATHAN P. MILLER, H. H. HAFF, 

ROWLAND T. ROBINSON, S. M. WILSON. 

Board of Managers. 

Oliver J. Eells, Erastus Parker, 

Joel Doolittle, Warham Walker, 

Jonathan A. Allen, P. B. Fisk, 

Sherman Kellogg, Amos Clement, 

Samuel Phelps, Thomas Marshall, 

Asa Aldis, Ithamar Smith, 

Oliver Johnson, Samuel Cotting. 

Executive Committee. 

Elisha Bascomb, Edward D. Barber, 

Rowland T. Robinson, Orson S. Murray. 
Oliver J. Eells, 

Corresponding Secretary. 
Orson S. Murray, of Orwell. 

Recording Secretary. 
Chauncey L. Knapp, of Montpelier. 

Treasurer. 
Edward H. Prentiss, of Montpelier. 

Auditor. 
Zenas Wood, of Montpelier. 



m mx<mk*a* 



BoeAthoa. 

April 06 



FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. 



The First Annual Meeting of the Vermont Anti-Slavery 
Society was holden in Middlebury, on Wednesday, the 18th of 
February, 1835 ; the President, John Ide, in the chair. 

The meeting was attended by a large number of delegates 
from Auxiliary Societies, and other friends of the cause, from 
different parts of the State. 

The Annual Report was read by the Corresponding Secre- 
tary, and ordered to be printed under the direction of the Ex- 
ecutive Committee. 

In the evening, the Society met at the Congregational meet- 
ing-house, where an Address was delivered by Mr. Oliver 
Johnson, to a numerous and highly respectable audience. The 
meeting was also addressed by Messrs. Milligan of Ryegate, 
Knapp of Montpelier, Bills of Bennington, Barber of Middle- 
bury, and others. At the close of the exercises a collection 
was taken amounting to $16 12. 

The Society voted to request of Mr. Johnson a copy of his 
Address for publication. 

The following preambles and resolutions were adopted dur- 
ing the progress of the meeting. 

The following were introduced by Mr. Wilson of Crafts- 
bury : 

Whereas, some of the conductors of the press in this country, by the 
avidity with which they have detailed those partial irregularities that 
have occurred under the apprenticeship system adopted in some of the 
West India Islands, have endeavored to prejudice the community 
against the propriety of immediate emancipation ; — 

And whereas, those editors, instead of charging those acts of irreg- 
ularity upon the apprenticeship system itself, and upon the oppressive 
conduct of the planters acting under that system, have attempted to 
fix the odium of those irregularities both upon the colored race gen- 
erally and upon the principles of immediate abolition ; — 

And whereas, the said editors have studiously refrained from pub- 
lishing the happy results witnessed in the orderly conduct of the eman- 
cipated in those islands in which they were at once liberated from their 
chains ; — therefore, 

1. Resolved, That said editors are entitled to all the honor which 
we know an enlightened people will ere long award to a course of such 
duplicity. 

2. Resolved, That said editors, from their conduct in the premises, 
and from their known attachment to schemes of expatriation, are to 
be understood with some limitation when they profess their opposition 
to the sin of slavery and their friendship to the degraded sons of Africa. 



IV 

3. Resolved, That the community be recommended to seek their in- 
formation on all subjects connected with slavery from more veracious 
journals than those conducted by the editors above specified. 

The following were introduced by Mr. Milligan of Rye- 
gate : 

Whereas, certain prominent friends of Colonization have lately form- 
ed a Society in Boston, styled the 'American Union for the Relief and 
Improvement of the Colored Race ;' and whereas, Abolitionists were 
refused any voice in the deliberations of their meeting ; and whereas, 
they refused to call slavery a SIN ; — 

Resolved, That we have no confidence in said Society as an Aboli- 
tion Society. 

On motion of Mr. Bills of Bennington, 

Resolved, That we regard the late efforts witnessed in different parts 
of our land to suppress freedom of discussion on the subject of slavery, 
as anti-republican, and by no means adapted to preserve the virtue of 
community and perpetuate the blessings of our free institutions. 

On motion of Mr. Barber of Middlebury, 

Resolved, That this Society consider that the only effectual remedy 
for the evil of slavery is the success of the doctrine of immediate 
emancipation. 

Resolved, That we deem immediate emancipation practicable, safe, 
and beneficial to the slaveholder and the slave. 

Resolved, That in every system of slavery it results of necessity, that 
' cruelty is the rule and kindness the exception.' 

On motion of Mr. Johnson of Middlebury, 

Resolved, That the tlianks of this Society be presented to Mr. O. S. 
Murray for his arduous and disinterested labors as an agent, and that 
the treatment which he has received in several places, where he has 
been prevented from pleading in behalf of the slave, by lawless vio- 
lence, is an insult to this Society, and excites our warmest indignation. 

On motion of Mr. Milligan of Ryegate, 

Resolved, That the Corresponding Secretary of this Society be di- 
rected to address George Thompson and Charles Stuart, assure 
them of the confidence and respect of this Society, and invite them to 
visit tliis State the ensuing spring, in the prosecution of their philan- 
thropic labors in behalf of the oppressed of our country. 

Resolved, That we have no reason to fear but that the Lord will ulti- 
mately extend deliverance to the poor oppressed people for wlioni we 
sympatbise ; yet we should be very careful and prayerful that we may 
keep still in our own view, and beenabled to present to others the arm 
of emancipation as the only agency in which we can ultimately trust. 

On motion, 

Voted, That the Executive Committee be empowered to appoint five 
members as delegates from this Society to attend the second Annual 
Meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society. 

The Executive Committee were authorized to call another 
meeting of the Society at such time and place as they might 
think advisable. 



REPORT. 



It is now three hundred and thirty years since the Portu- 
guese commenced the African slave-trade. More than two 
hundred years, the most enlightened nations of Christendom 
have incessantly made merchandize of the colored race — a mer- 
chandize based on the principles of force — a merchandize whose 
beginning was piracy, and whose whole course has been marked 
with violence and blood. Cardinal Ximenes, Elizabeth, Cow- 
per, and other illustrious individuals, early protested against such 
a violation of Christianity and nature ; but the clamorous voice 
of avarice, on the contrary, overpowered the groans of the per- 
ishing victims, and drowned every cry of humanity raised in 
their behalf. Charles the Fifth of Germany checked the pro- 
gress of this traffic, in 1542, by ordering the manumission of 
all the slaves in his American dominions ; but as soon as that 
remarkable man had retired from his throne, slavery was revived. 
Pope Leo Tenth, Baxter, and many other powerful minds, in 
their turn, bore testimony against the system, but the murder- 
ous work went on. Nothing effectual was done towards its 
suppression, until about the time the philanthropic Clarkson 
came forward and undertook the cause of the African. 

Here commences an important era in the history of efforts 
for the relief of that long abused people. This great apostle 
of African emancipation accomplished more than all who had 
gone before him. It is about fifty years since he began his 
work. The Quakers, always lovers of civil as well as religious 
liberty, had from 1727 — at which time the slave-trade came 
within the discipline of their Society — been taught to look upon 
merchandizing in human flesh with horror and hatred. To 
them justly belongs the honor of having discovered the only 
proper and effectual remedy for this dreadful malady,* which 
has wrought such destruction in the human family. By keep- 
ing the subject alive, they had perceived that as facts came out 
showing the enormities of the nefarious traffic, hatred towards 
it increased : hence they concluded that it was only necessary 

* This metaphor is used for the want of a better. Let none understand by it 
that we view slavery as a misfortune merely. No. It is a crime before Heaven, 
and every righteous tribunal. 



6 

lo enlighten the great mass of community, who were* neither 
interested in it nor personally acquainted with it, and it would 
be frowned out of existence. The first Association of which 
we read, for the promotion of this object, was formed among 
the English Quakers, in 1783. Its Executive Committee con- 
sisted of six, and held its first meeting on the seventh of July 
of that year. In the same year, Anthony Benezet, from this 
side of the Atlantic, addressed a letter on the subject to Char- 
lotte, Queen of England. John Woolman, another American 
Quaker, and a gospel minister of that Society, had written and 
preached much on the subject, from 1747 to 1772. These 
and other individuals in New York and Pennsylvania had con- 
tributed more or less to produce the state of things that existed 
in that religious body, at the time the mentioned Association 
was formed. 

The first step taken by the Committee towards their enter- 
prise was, to enlist the press ; and before the year had closed, 
they had secured a place to hold up the light before the public 
in ten or twelve provincial papers. During this year, the So- 
ciety petitioned Parliament, and in 1784, distributed books on 
the subject. In 1785, the Vice Chancellor of the University 
of Cambridge gave out the following question to the senior 
bachelors of arts, as a subject for the prize essay : ' Is it right 
to make slaves of others against their will ?' Thomas Clarkson, 
a member of the class, had obtained the first prize in the lower 
class the former year, and it was not expected that he would 
now willingly stand second-best. At first it was with him a 
contest for literary honor ; but while looking after facts to sup- 
port his thesis, he very much lost sight of the honor and emol- 
ument, in gazing at slavery. He had anticipated pleasure from 
the invention and arrangement of his argument, but he had 
been ignorant of his subject. He tried to persuade himself that 
the shocking facts which he discovered were fictions, but his 
investigation had been thorough and his authorities were indispu- 
table. In his own words : ■ It became now not so much a trial 
for academical reputation, as for the production of a work that 
might be useful to injured Africa.' He obtained the prize, but 
did not stop here. The labor of procuring this paltry reward 
was only the inception of an achievement that — when men 
shall have become rational beings, wise men shall have come 
to their senses, and the milk of human kindness shall How in- 
stead of innocent blood — will raise Thomas Clarkson as much 
above Alexander, Caesar and Bonaparte, as a benefactor of his 
species will then he raised above a destroyer. 

This benevolent man now devoted his life. He had been 
designed for the church, his prospects were brilliant, and he 



expected to displease his friends, but he broke away from them 
all and went about exploring the intricate labyrinth of the hor- 
rid traffic, travelling thousands of miles, followed with threats 
of assassination, visiting custom-houses and slave-ships, convers- 
ing with those who were interested in the slave-trade as well as 
those who were acquainted with it, not interested. By spread- 
ing the facts, collected at such labor and peril, before Wilber- 
force and Pitt, (who were at first as ignorant of the subject as 
he had formerly been,) he secured their co-operation, and thus, 
on the ninth of May, 1787, brought the great subject before 
Parliament, in a resolution for the abolishment of a traffic, 
whose existence was a violation of the laws of God and the 
rights of man. Who will believe it ? this resolution was con- 
tested in the British Parliament twenty years, against the pow- 
erful eloquence of Wilberforce, Pitt, and Fox, and constant 
soul-stirrins petitions from all parts of the kingdom. During 
this period, Clarkson travelled some half-dozen times around 
Great Britain, and visited France once or more, collecting and 
diffusing light. At length the bill passed and received the 
King's signature on the 25th of March, 1807. 

The United States had ' framed their iniquity by law,' so 
that their constitution would not allow the righteous deed until 
1808. France and other nations have come up to the work, 
until about all is done that can be done to suppress the foreign 
trade, except domestic slavery be abolished. It is now becom- 
ing a settled axiom that slavery is the cause, the trade the ef- 
fect. How deplorable that the mighty efforts which have been 
put forth against the effect, had not been directed to the remo- 
val of the cause, especially as the latter of the two is the more 
tangible, and as a blow here tells upon both. We may by no 
means undervalue the labors of the great and good men whose 
names we have mentioned — for they awakened a sympathy for 
the colored man, and cast an influence against the great and 
terrible system of African oppression, that will be felt until the 
last chain is broken — yet we may rejoice and thank God that 
the later British philanthropists have discovered the error, and 
directed their attacks to the vulnerable part. We may learn 
and profit much from the history of efforts for emancipation in 
Great Britain. For more than forty years they labored to 
break up the slave-trade on the coast of Africa, and to mitigate 
slavery in their colonies ; but they accomplished neither the 
one nor the other. As soon as they put justice, and mercy, 
and liberty, and the law of God, and human happiness, against 
pounds, shillings, and pence, the scale instantly turned. Since 
they have bent their moral energies against their own slavery, 
calling for immediate emancipation, as the duty of the master 



and the right of the slave, they have not only gained this ob- 
ject, but they have done more in this way, in these half-dozen 
years, towards breaking up the foreign trade, than all their 
physical forces had before done in a third of a century. Blows 
at the root are sure to kill the branches. 

In the United States we have been behind our British 
brethren, and we are yet behind them. True, Societies for the 
promotion of emancipation have existed here, at different inter- 
vals for more than forty years ; but they have been scattered, 
feeble in numbers, in faith and in practice, and have gone 
down. Then we have had our Colonization Society, rocking 
us to sleep, while slavery has been rolling in upon us like a 
flood. Little, comparatively, was effected here, until Mr. 
Garrison commenced publishing the Liberator in Boston, on 
the 1st of January, 1831. That little sheet, small as it was at 
first, gave a shock, as if this nation had been shaken by an 
earthquake ; the trembling and quaking has increased from that 
hour to this, and there is to be no more peace in our borders 
until thraldom is broken, and every American is a freeman. 
In January, 1832, a Society was formed in Boston, numbering, 
at its organization, twelve members, and styling itself the New- 
England Anti-Slavery Society.* This was the first of the 
present order of Anti-Slavery Societies, in the United States. 
It was branded as a Society of ' ardent young men' — ' madmen' 
— 'fanatics' — but their principles were omnipotent, and they 
went forward ; ' one of them has chased a thousand, and two 
have put ten thousand to flight.' The first object of this Soci- 
ety was, in the words of its constitution, ' to endeavor by all 
means sanctioned by law, humanity and religion, to effect the 
abolition of slavery in the United States.' Auxiliaries to it 
were formed in different parts of New-England, during 1832 
and '33, among which were two or three town Societies in this 
State. A Society was formed in the city of New- York, in 
October, 1833, consisting, according to the account given of it 
by its enemies, of thirty-two men and two women. This Soci- 
ety proposed to ' take all lawful, moral and religious means, to 
effect a total and immediate abolition of slavery in the United 
States.' In December following, about sixty delegates, from 
ten different States, assembled in Philadelphia and organized 
the American Anti-Slavery Society, whose declaration of sen- 
timents is before the world. Its constitution declares that the 
Society « shall aim to convince all our fellow citizens, by argu- 
ments addressed to their understandings and consciences, that 
slaveholding is a heinous crime in the sight of God, and that 

* It has since taken the name of Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Socitey, auxiliary 
to the American Anti-Slavery Society. 



9 

the duty, safety, and best interests of all concerned, require its 
immediate abandonment, without expatriation.' Since the 
formation of the National Society, the success of our cause has 
exceeded the most sanguine expectations of its friends. What 
one of the Sixty would have presumed, fourteen months ago, in 
the Adelphi Hall, to predict what his eyes have since seen, and 
his ears have heard ? A signal triumph of truth and love, 
over error and prejudice, was witnessed in Lane Seminary, in 
the very suburbs of slavery, within a few weeks. 

Three State Societies have been formed ; the Vermont, in 
May last ; the Maine, in October ; and the New-Hampshire, 
in November. 

This may be the proper place to notice the progress of this 
Society and of the cause in Vermont. The first seed was 
sown in this State, by the Liberator. The New-England 
Society, in a considerable measure, prepared the way to the 
formation of this, by employing an agent several months in this 
State, in the summer of 1833, and winter of '33 and '34. 
The cause is also indebted to Rev. Henry Jones, for early 
labors in Caledonia and Washington counties ; and much credit 
is due to the State Journal, Middlebury Free Press, and North 
Star, for allowing our cause a hearing in their columns. 

The Vermont Anti-Slavery Society was organized on the 
first day of May, 1834, about one hundred delegates being 
present, from thirty different towns. Since that time a travel- 
ling agent has been employed, five months, who has delivered 
from eighty to ninety lectures, and formed auxiliary Societies 
in ten or twelve towns, which, with those previously formed, 
make thirty town Societies in the State. The way is prepar- 
ing for forming many more auxiliaries. One thousand copies 
of a circular were distributed in June, addressed to the clergy 
of this State, it being the report of a committee of the State 
Convention, on colonization, designed to disabuse the people 
on that subject. We are sure the effort was not lost. Five 
hundred copies of Mr. Birney's Letter, printed in New- York, 
have been circulated by this Society and many more by its 
auxiliaries. The effect of these in opening eyes to the coloni- 
zation delusion, has been most salutary. Three local agents 
have been appointed, who have lectured to* some extent.* By 
such means as these, this Society, in the nine months of its 
existence, has brought thousands to examine the great subject 
of slavery and emancipation, hundreds of whom have enrolled 
their names to support our cause. 

Since the organization of this Society, many important events 
have occurred, in connection with our cause, worthy of notice. 

* These agents will accept the thanks of the Executive Committee and oftho 
Society for their gratuitous services . 

2 



10 

Charles Stuart and George Thompson have come to our 
assistance from Great Britain. They have arrived when we 
most need them. The battle waxes hot. They have been 
through the war at home. Who will not welcome such men, 
at such a time ? We may expect to see Mr. Thompson in 
Vermont, in the spring. Who will not receive him with open 
arms ? 

On the first day of August, the chains fell from the last slave 
in the British dominions. Eight hundred thousand were 
emancipated in a moment! Glorious moment! What a foun- 
tain of misery was instantly dried up ! What a fountain of joy 
burst forth ! That man is not to be envied whose soul is not 
filled with delight at the thought. But what shall we say or 
think of the depraved, malignant wretch who busies himself at 
catching and magnifying every rumor of the least unfavorable 
result, to make it tell against the cause of emancipation ? We 
have spoken of their immediate emancipation. They were 
immediately, ' in the twinkling of an eye,' changed from prop- 
erty, from things, into men — into human beings. They can 
no longer be bought and sold — no longer shut out from the 
light of knowledge and religion — they no longer labor for the 
sole benefit of others — their own souls and bodies are their 
own — their husbands, wives, parents and children are their 
own. 

The aristocracy of our country and their creatures are point- 
ing us to the sullenness and idleness of the emancipated in 
Jamaica, as the effects of their emancipation. We reject their 
conclusion ; there is no connexion of cause and effect, of 
antecedent and consequent, in the case. It is true, that those 
in power are having some difficulty with their system of appren- 
ticeship ; so they had with slavery ; and they will find diffi- 
culty just in proportion as they continue to oppress. The 
trouble is, not that they have left off too much of their oppres- 
sion, but that they have not left off enough. Of this the proof 
at hand is beyond controversy, and the facts agree with reason. 
Antigua and the Bermudas rejected the apprenticeship scheme, 
and gave their slaves immediate, unconditional, freedom ; and 
the result has been peaceful and satisfactory.* While we 

* ' Antigua, Bermudas, &c. How judicious lias been the conduct of the plan- 
ters in Antigua and the Bermudas ! They foresaw the difficulties connected with 
the apprenticeship, and wisely provided against them by its total rejection. The 
slaves in these colonies were declared free " without restriction and without con- 
dition," on the first of August, and this policy has been followed by the happiest 
results. The transition from slavery to freedom has been peaceful — compulsory 
toil has been exchanged for voluntary labor. A contented and grateful peasantry 
now work willingly on the plantations, lor small wages, and all classes are satisfied 
with the change. 

We have received Antigua papers to the 28th August, which contain the most 
[ratifying accounts of the events which have transpired in that important island, 



11 

greatly rejoice that no human heings are any more to be treated 
as goods and chattels, in the British dominions, we mourn that 
so much power is left in the hands of the tyrants, in some of 
the islands. Let the results of these different measures not be 
forgotten by us. Let both be in constant remembrance. Let 
one stand before us for warning, the other for imitation. 

Among the auspicious events in our own country is, the 
coming off of Mr. Birney, from slavery and colonization to 
immediate abolition. The attending circumstances, taken in 
connexion with the moral and intellectual worth of the man, 
make this an important acquisition to our cause. The people 
of the South are starting from their slumbers ; and it is not the 
spirit of despotism alone that is rousing. The spirit of philan- 
thropy and patriotism, whatever there is of it left, is awake. 
The colonization spell is broken. They begin to feel and to 
acknowledge that slavery is a sin. Religious bodies are taking 
it up. The Presbyterian Synod of Kentucky has passed strong 
resolutions against it. The Synods of Tennessee and Virginia 
are not far behind. 

The refusal of the students of Lane Seminary to put on the 
manacles that were forged for them, is another important step 
taken towards the overthrow of tyranny in the United States. 
Young men — literary, benevolent, valiant, powerful young 
men, are every where flocking to the standard of emancipation. 
A large proportion of the students in the Western Reserve 
College, in the Oneida Institute, in Andover Seminary, in 
Waterville College, and in other Colleges and Seminaries are 
preparing to go forth and lift up their voices against oppression. 

There is one more cheering event that gives us unmingled 
pleasure. Our Clarksons and Sharpes have been stirring the 
people ; we now have our Wilberforce in our National Legis- 
lature. Sixteen days ago, Mr. Dickson of New- York made 
an attack upon slavery and the slave-trade in the District of 

since the 1st of that month. It will be seen that they triumphantly demonstrate 
the practicability and safety of immediate and entire emancipation. 

August 7. The great doubt is solved; — the alarming prognostications of the 
advocates of slavery falsified; — the highest hopes of the negro's friends fulfilled, 
and their pledges honorably redeemed ! A whole people, comprising thirty thou- 
sand souls, have passed from slavery into freedom, not only without the slightest 
irregularity, but with the solemn and decorous tranquility of a Sabbath. 

August 21. The third week of freedom will close with this day, and again we 
are bound to express our gratitude and praise to the Divine goodness for the per- 
fect tranquility which the island enjoys. Not the least symptom of insubordina- 
tion has manifested itself any where; and the daily accounts from all quarters, 
testify to the excellent disposition and conduct of the new freemen. 

We much regret that the exemplary conduct of the emancipated negroes has not 
met with a corresponding return from many of their masters. The haughty, dom- 
ineering, and revengeful spirit engendered by the slave system, is still in existence 
and operation.' — [' The Abolitionist, published under the direction of the British and 
Foreign Society for the universal abolition of slavery and the slave-trade, London, 
November, 1834.'] 



12 

Columbia. The voice oi six thousand — ay, of two millions of 
perishing slaves ; the voice of the people, of females, in their 
behalf, has at length been heard. Courage ! friends of human- 
ity. Patience ! victims of cupidity and lust. Faith ! hope ! 
energy ! perseverance ! lovers of our country, defenders of the 
rights of the poor, servants of the Most High God. Mercy! 
forbearance one year longer ! O thou Avenger of the oppressed ! 

Possibly our State Legislature may think it ' prudent and 
discreet,' next fall, to direct our Senators, and request our Rep- 
resentatives in Congress — at least as many of them as desire 
instruction on this subject* — to use their efforts to drive slavery 
from the doors of our national Capitol. We would not be 
wantonly censorious — we would not impeach motives ; but 
who will believe, ten years hence, that the Legislature of Ver- 
mont, in 1834, refused to make use of their constitutional 
power to remove slavery from our national domain ? O ! when 
will it be discreet and prudent to exercise our constitutional 
power to put an end to kidnapping and murder under the very 
wings of our national eagle ? How much longer shall the soil 
of the District of Columbia be watered with the tears and 
fattened with the blood of Americans ? When will it be dis- 
creet and prudent to commence wiping their tears and healing 
their wounds ? Who shall fix on the time when ? — the avari- 
cious slave traders ? Now that the subject is fairly before 
Congress, we hope that it will not be dismissed for the want of 
any action that is lawful and peaceful, on the part of the citi- 
zens of this State. 

Among the important occurrences of a few months past, 
there is one too infamously important to be left unnoticed ; we 
refer to the mobbing and violence that is so widely obtaining, 
trampling down the constitution of our State and of the 
United States, and making war upon the very genius of liberty. 
These riots are the legitimate fruits of that spirit of slavery that 
has ever been diffusing itself throughout this Republic. For 
the want of a better defence against the attacks of truth and 
reason, tyranny has resorted to its accustomed weapons. But 
has it come to this, that freedom of speech is to be held at the 
nod of the rabble, the beck of some aristocrat behind the cur- 
tain, some factious demagogue, or profligate newspaper editor ? 
Let the friends of civil and religious liberty answer. The pre- 
liminary question to be settled is, will we be freemen, or will 

*The argument used in our last Legislature, which seemed to be most effectual 
in procuring the dismissal ol'llie resolution to instruct our delegation in Congress, 
relative to slavery in tlie District of Columbia, was this : that there is DO need of 
action on the part of tiie Legislature, because our delegates in Congress are al- 
ready opposed to slavery, and ready to act whenever it shall be ■ discreet and pru- 
dent ;' yet one of our delegates, who was in Montpelier at the time, was there heard 
to say that he wished to be instructed — he was ready to act, waiting for instruction. 



13 

we be slaves ? It behooves the people to speak out on this 
subject. Toleration of free discussion lies at the foundation of 
republicanism ; — take it away and the whole fabric crumbles : 
nothing is left of liberty but the name. 

Malignant slander and brutal violence may have their little 
hour and rage, but it must be short in a virtuous and enlight- 
ened community. Thanks to Him who is able to make the 
wrath of man to praise Him, and to restrain the remainder — 
who is wont to overrule evil for good, and to carry the counsels 
of the wicked headlong, their violence will have less power 
against our cause than against our persons. Vermont is the 
wrong place for mobism. The wolves that prey upon our 
flocks by night, may find a retreat in our Green Mountains ; 
but they who tread under their feet our constitution, and wage 
war upon discussion, the citadel of our liberties — whether the 
lawless rabble, or those who set them on — will find themselves 
whelmed in public indignation. 

There is great complaint, because we oppose the Coloniza- 
tion Society. But what has been the character of our opposi- 
tion ? Have we shown ourselves immoral ? Do we oppose 
the Temperance Society ? What have been our weapons ? 
Have we used clubs and brick-bats? Have we stirred up 
mobs ? No. Nothing like it. Had we used brute violence 
against that Society, its friends would have had a right to com- 
plain ; but we have had nothing to do with that sort of argu- 
ment — it all comes from the other side. 

We cannot here speak at length of colonization ; but let 
none therefore conclude that we think more favorably of it now 
than at any former period. We believe that it receives very 
little support now, as a remedy for slavery, so that little or 
nothing need be said on this point. The fact that the present 
annual increase of the colored population of the United States 
is about 70,000, taken in connexion with certain figures on the 
tenth page of the African Repository, of March, 1834, will 
show that one half of one per cent, of the increase has not been 
removed, since the Society has been in operation. The num- 
ber of slaves in the United States is half a million greater now 
than it was when the Society was organized. But suppose the 
Society's means augmented a thousand fold, where is its power 
to reach one slave beyond what it is for the interest of the 
slaveholder to turn off? Then who cannot see that the sup- 
porters of slavery would find a motive to perpetuate it, in 
the fact that the removal of those who should go would < aug- 
ment instead of diminishing the value of the property left 
behind,'* in the same way that the price of stock left on our 
farms in Vermont, is raised, by draining off the surplus ? 

* Mr. Clay's Speech — Tenth Annual Report, A. C. S. 



14 

We stop here to ask the people of Vermont who have sup- 
ported that Society, a few plain questions, which they are under 
more obligation to answer to their own consciences than to us. 
Do they support it understandingly ? What is their object ? 
Have they studied its constitution ? If so, do they find the 
object, or objects which they have had in view, specified in the 
constitution ? Do they support any other measures as a rem- 
edy for slavery ? — any other for the relief of the free people of 
color? If they know that the Society's constitution confines 
its efforts ' exclusively' to the colonizing of the free people of 
color, do they also know that that people had no hand in get- 
ting up the Society — that they did not call for it — that they 
made known to the Society, before it had existed twelve 
months, that they considered its services gratuitous* — that 
they have always looked upon it as their enemy, and have, as 
a body, steadily protested against it from its beginning down to 
the present hour — that twenty different associations of the 
enlightened portion of them, in the principal cities and villages 
from Portland to Richmond, have published their resolutions 
against it ?f Is there any thing strange or unaccountable in 

* It has been asserted that the people of color would never have thought of 
opposing the Colonization Society, had not Mr. Garrison opposed it. The truth is 
exactly the reverse ; their opposition had an influence in turning him. They 
commenced hostilities against it in 1817, he in 1830. 

f Philadelphia, January, 1317. 

At a numerous meeting of the people of color, convened at Bethel church, to 
take into consideration the propriety of remonstrating against the contemplated 
measure, that is to exile us from the land of our nativity ; James Forten was 
called to the chair, and Russkl Parrot appointed Secretary. The intent of the 
meeting having been stated by the chairman, the following resolutions wore 
adopted, without one dissenting voice. 

Whereas, our ancestors (not of choice) were the first successful cultivators of the 
wilds of America, we their descendants feel ourselves entitled to participate in the 
blessings ofher luxuriant soil, which their blood and sweat manured ; and that any 
measure or system of measures, having a tendency to banish us from her bosom, 
would not only be cruel, but in direct violation of those principles, which have 
been the boast of this republic. 

Resolved, That we view with deep abhorrence the unmerited stigma attempt) d 
to be cast upon the reputation of the free people of color, by the promoters of this 
measure — '• that they are a dangerous and useless part ot community," when in the 
state ol disfranchisement in which they live, in the hour of danger they ceased to 
remember their wrongs, and rallied around the standard of their country. 

Resolved, That we never will separate ourselves voluntarily from the slave pop- 
ulation in this country ; they are our brethren b\ 1 1 . ■ ties of consanguinity, oi suf- 
fering, and of wrong ; and we feel that there is more virtue in suffering privations 
with them, than in fancied advantages lor a season.' 

( BY THE COLORED INHABITANTS or NEW-BEDFORD. 

Resolved, That in whatever light we view the Colonization Society, wedircover 
nothing in it but error, prejudice, and oppression; that the warm and beneficent 
hand ol philanthropy is not apparent in the system, but the influence of the Society 
on public opinion is more prejudicial to the interest and welfare of the people of 
color in the United States, than slavery itself/ 

'BY THE NATIONAL COLORED CONTENTIOH HELD IN PHILADELPHIA, IN 1832. 

Resolved, That we still solemnly and sincerely protest against any interference, 

on the part of the American Colonization Society, with the free colored population 

in these United States, bo long as they shall countenance or endeavor to use cocr- 



15 

the hostility of this people ? Is not America their home ? 
Are not the bones of their fathers here, who fought and bled 
for our liberties ; and who shall refuse them a grave at home ? 
Why should they wish to remove to the sultry shores of 
Africa ? — because we say to them, ' Get out of our sight ?' — 
and is this our benevolence towards them ? 

With regard to colonization, as concerning Africa, we have 
a few words to say. It must not be taken for granted that we 
are enemies to Africa, because we oppose colonization — it 
were just as fair and logical to conclude that we would injure 
the sick, because we disapprove the prescriptions of an empiric. 
While we would do as much to enlighten the African tribes as 
any other foreign, benighted people, we would act on the same 
general principles for their good, as for that of any other ; but 
we find nothing in reason, history, or experience, to justify the 
measures of the American Colonization Society. We should 
have no objection to a rational voluntary system of coloniza- 
tion, pursued on pacific principles. But the history of coloni- 
zation, from beginning to end, is a history of conquest, robbery, 
and extermination. The history of William Penn's colony 
furnishes the only considerable exception to this remark, we 
now think of, and we fear that some of his descendants will be 
found with the red man's blood in their garments. Passing by 
the ancient history of colonization, as connected with fable — 
leaving out the destruction of the original inhabitants of Great 
Britain, by colonization from the East — saying nothing about 
the oceans of blood spilt in Central and South America—we 
ask, what has been the effect of the system on the aborigines 
of this country ? And what more does the present enterprise 
promise Africa ? Has it started on sounder principles ? Do 
the emigrants possess superior moral, intellectual, or religious 
qualifications ? Far from it. Our fathers were not ' vaga- 
bonds ;'* they were surnamed Puritans ; but where ate the 
natives of America ? Already we point them beyond the 

cive measnres, (either directly or indirectly,) to colonize us in any place which is 
not the object of our choice. And we ask them respectfully, as men and as chris- 
tians, to cease their unhallowed persecutions, of a people already sufficiently 
oppressed, or if, as they profess, they have our welfare and prosperity at heart, to 
assist us in the object of our choice. 

We might here repeat our protest against that institution, but it is unnecessary. 
Our views and sentiments have long since gone to the world — the wings of the 
wind have borne our disapprobation to that institution. Time Usclf cannot erase it. 
We have dated our opposition from its beginning, and our views are strengthened 
by time and circumstances, and they hold the uppermost seat in our affections.' 

* Mr. Breckenrid^e declared, in the seventeenth annual meeting of the Coloniza- 
tion Society, that thev had recently carried off to Liberia, ' two lull ship-loads of 
vagabonds.' Dr. Mechlin, Governor of the Colony, complained in the African 
Repository of December, 1832, that they had just Lefore been sending out to him 
some of the most' degraded and abandoned.' The African Repository, [Vol. 1, p. 
T.o] represents the cla?s to be removed as a nuisance here, ''scarcely reached in 
debasement by the heavenly light.' 



16 

Great River ; we shall next remove them over the Rocky 
Mountains ; and what will become of them when the white 
man's avarice demands the last foot of their native soil ? 

We are not attempting to settle the question whether more 
good or evil has resulted to mankind, from the peopling of this 
continent by the European race ; and if we were, we should 
commence by discarding the principle that the end justifies the 
means. All the good that can accrue to the present and to all 
future generations of men, from the establishing of our liberal 
government, and our scientific, moral, and benevolent institu- 
tions, can never justify the robbery and violence, the rapine 
and slaughter, which have characterized American colonization. 
Who shall warrant that African colonization shall be attended 
with better results to the natives of that continent ? The same 
purchasing of land enough to get feet upon, with gewgaws and 
songs, has commenced — the same building of warlike fortifica- 
tions — the same jealousies excited in the natives, by these 
movements — the same mutual hostilities — the same butcheries. 

African colonization is at present uncalled for, whether we 
would promote civilization or Christianity — whether we seek the 
good of America or Africa. It is uncalled for, to draw from 
our sparse population to crowd Africa, as the chart of the 
world will show the population to be twice as dense on that 
continent as on ours. Of all systems of colonization that have 
obtained, since Cain went out to the land of Nod, the present 
is the most unreasonable and unnatural. It is all forced. It 
is an attempt to turn the stream back to the fountain. Tens 
and scores of thousands are annually pouring in upon us from 
the old world, to fill up our vacuum, while we are laboring to 
set our own elements at work, to discharge a portion of our own 
unequal contents. It cannot be for the interest of America to 
turn away civilized men — it cannot be for the interest of Africa 
to receive uncivilized men. 

As for christianizing Africa, we think colonization adapted 
to any other end than this. The scheme is at war with the 
spirit of the New Testament. Said the Prince of Peace, ' My 
kingdom is not of this world, if it were, then would my servants 
fight' — 'all they that take the sword shall perish with the 
sword.' Again — from the Old Testament — ' Wo to him that 
buildeth a town with blood.' ' The work of righteousness shall 
be peace.' They have not followed peace — their town is built 
with blood.* Some may ask whether the colony shall not 
defend itself. Bear in mind we are now viewing it as a mis- 
sionary establishment. Now where in the New Testament is 

* Mr. Ashniun, describing the effect of a long nine pounder, brought to bear upon 
the solid ranks ol the natives in a certain battle, says : ' I'.verv shot literally spent 
its force in a solid mass ol living human Mesh !' — [ K(. Repos. Vol. 2, p. 179] 



It 

the Christian missionary directed to build forts, mount cannon, 
and carry the gospel of peace at the point of the bayonet ? 
1 He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.' The fruits 
of pure Christianity are ' love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gen- 
tleness, goodness, faith, meekness.' 

Cui bono 1 What is this Society good for ? is the final 
question. To go to its agents and authorized publications for 
an answer, were about as satisfactory as to have anciently con- 
sulted the priests and oracle of Delphi ; any answer can be 
obtained, and every one will be ambiguous. You may read 
proof, ad libitum, that the Society's measures tend to abolish 
slavery, and at the same time to perpetuate it — to remove a 
nuisance, and to enlighten Africa — that it aims ' exclusively' 
at one specific object, and at the same time at an indefinite 
number of objects. Its constitution, in the hands of an individ- 
ual supporter, possesses the tenacity of iron ; but let Northern 
and Southern men have hold of it at once, and it has the 
ductility of wax — the elasticity of the gum-elastic itself. After 
a long and laborious perusal of the documents of the ; Ameri- 
can Society J or Colonizing the Free People of Color' — after 
attentively watching its operations, and carefully studying its. 
tendencies, if we were now called upon to answer the question, 
what is the summum bonum of the scheme, we must honestly 
say, that we view it exactly fitted to gratify an unrighteous 
prejudice, and to rock this nation to sleep, in a cradle of gossa- 
mer, over a bottomless gulph. We are not prepared to 
declare that it has done no good ; nor could we say that alco- 
hol has done no good ; but we do firmly believe that both 
alike have done so much more hurt than good, that the world 
would be far better without them. 

We come now to make a plain declaration of our principles 
and designs, in regard to the colored population of our country. 
It will be brief. It can be told in a few words. Our princi- 
ples are intuitive, common-sense principles, written in the Book 
of God, and engraved on the hearts of men. Our practices 
shall comport with our principles. 

Viewing slavery, as we do, to be a crime of the deepest dye 
before God — not less wrong in practice than in principle — dan- 
gerous to republican government — daily and hourly weakening 
the bonds of our national union ; as accountable beings, as 
men, and as Americans, we call for its immediate abandonment. 
This demand we have a right to make — it is just — it is reason- 
able. It will be a vain thing for any man or set of men, at the 
North or at the South, to tell us that this is an excessive 
demand — that it is treasonable or seditious. We are a compo- 
nent part of the physical power of this nation, that sustains 
3 



18 

slavery, and of the moral power, that is able to crush it. The 
aristocratic, the time-serving, the man-fearing, ask what right 
we have to interfere. What right, we ask, had the bystanders 
to interfere when the ruffian undertook to assassinate the Chief 
Magistrate of this nation ? What right have we to interfere 
when our neighbors cry from their chamber-windows, their 
houses being wrapped in flames around them ? We are not of 
the number who confound right with might. 

We are told when we call for immediate abolition, that our 
work must be a work of time. So we are not to call for the 
immediate rescue of the drowning man, because it will be a 
work of time to get to him ! Preachers of righteousness, tem- 
perance, and judgment, are not to urge immediate heed to the 
divine requirements, because it will be a work of time to gain 
the ears and hearts of the depraved ! If we only require of 
the slave-holder that he reform when he finds it expedient, 
because he will not at once listen to the doctrine of immediate 
reformation, we may pursue the same course with the robber 
and adulterer, for the same reason. Nothing can be effectual, 
short of laying hold of his conscience, and this can never be 
reached by compromising with him in his wrong doing. He 
must be made to feel that slavery is a sin — then he will repent. 
Grant him his own time to dispose of the matter, undisturbed, 
is all he asks. That time will be the latest day of his life, and 
his last act concerning it will be, to ' entail the evil' on the next 
generation ; and the next generation will demand their own 
time, and plead innocence because the system was entailed 
upon them. 

Much alarm is expressed, lest we agitate the South. [How 
is this to be reconciled with the statement that our labor here 
will be lost, because we are situated so far from the evil ?] 
We are not afraid of disturbing the South. We aim to disturb 
them — not to injure them, but — they must be disturbed. They 
are sleeping on a volcano ; the surface now heaves under 
them ! The judgments of Heaven hang over them ; the 
arrows of retributive justice already begin to fall ! It is our 
bounden duty to lift up our voices together, and swell them to 
a tempest — if possible we may awake them to a sense of their 
guilt, their folly, and their danger — a duty owed to ourselves, 
to our children, to the oppressor and the oppressed, to Chris- 
tianity, to the cause of freedom. As for our being heard in 
the South, there is nothing to prevent. Intelligence knows no 
geographical boundaries ; it does not stop on Mason and 
Dixon's line ; it circulates through this nation, as blood through 
the animal system. The same conveyance that brings to 
Vermont Governor McDuffie's doctrine, that slavery is neces- 



19 

sary to the perpetuity of our liberties, [!] will carry to South 
Carolina our doctrine, that slavery is the most dangerous foe 
to our liberties ; and the latter will be read with equal avidity 
as the former, will produce discussion, discussion will elicit 
truth, and truth will make free. Do not the people of the 
South hear what we have to say on all other great questions of 
common interest ? and will they be less heedful of what is 
going on in respect to what they deem their peculiar interest ? 
They will eagerly seize and devour every page of anti-slavery 
matter that falls in their reach. What means the growling in 
the den ? Light is breaking in upon the monster. Our 
Thomes and our Birneys, seized with sympathy, are spread- 
ing the kind contagion. Our Evangelists are kindling a moral 
blaze in every Seminary and every Synod. Our Emancipa- 
tors are so many flaming torches, and our Liberators so many 
bursts of boiling lava, lighting up fires throughout all the dark 
valley of prejudice and oppression. The cry of Fire ! — 
Fire ! ! from the watchmen of oppression, already meets us 
on every southern breeze, and every move they make but fans 
the flame. The tocsin of slavery sounds but to marshal and 
encourage its enemies — to confuse and dishearten its friends. 

Let those who are alarmed at these things, point out a bet- 
ter way. Let that way be any other than letting alone this 
growing evil, this Boa-constrictor, tightning his folds around the 
neck of this nation. It has been let alone long enough. The 
spirit of slavery has diffused itself extensively enough. Dan- 
ger ! Danger! Let those who make this cry, before they run, 
look around and find where the danger lies. Is there no dan- 
ger in goading men, already armed with despair ? Is there 
less danger to be apprehended from the slaves, than from those 
who are employed in holding them ? The Union is in danger ! 
The chivalrous men of the South will declare ' war to the 
knife !' And what is the present attitude of these men who 
are supposed to be for war ? Are they prepared for a war of 
invasion ? Every man of them is on sentry at home, and their 
foes are of their own house. If a Chinese wall could be built 
between them and us, the knives would be at their throats in 
less than one week, and they know it. In the name of reason 
and honor, we beseech the good people of the North not to be 
over-much frightened. A terrible thing to emancipate two 
millions of slaves ! If there would be difficulty with two mil- 
lions to-day, what, with two millions and two hundred to-mor- 
row ? with two millions and seventy thousand next year ? with 
three millions, fifteen years hence ? We pray those who have 
hitherto looked at the consequence of doing right, to dare for 
once to look at the consequence of continuing in the wrong, 



20 

We now appeal to the understanding and conscience of this 
nation. We cite the South to their own desolation and wretch- 
edness. We ask them why the wolf now howls in certain 
portions of Virginia, where were once fertile plantations? 
Why is that State now the fourth or fifth in the Union, in 
point of wealth and population, whereas once it was the first 1 
Why is Maryland now less than a thirtieth of the population"* 
of the United States, whereas, in 1790, it was an eleventh? 
Why does the slightest breeze, make them tremble like an 
aspen ? To the North we appeal, in the name of more than 
two millions, whose blood is as water, and whose grief as 
wind — in the name of the best interests of this republic — in 
the name of freedom — in the name of Christianity — in the name 
of earth and Heaven. Slavery must be abolished. As sure 
as there is any virtue in moral power — any might in truth — 
any brotherly love, any common humanity, any sense of shame, 
any fear of retribution, any regard for justice, in Americans — 
it will be done speedily and peacefully. What American, 
what Christian, what human being, will not now come forward, 
lay aside for a moment differences in politics and religion, and 
all meaner things, and make common cause against a common 
enemy? Then what shall hinder us? Justice, and reason, 
and humanity are on our side ; our parent-country has led the 
way and sent the noblest of her victors to help us ; God and 
angels are with us. Onward ! to the bloodless strife ! Onward ! 
— stare tyranny in the face — rouse the church — wake the 
nation. Onward ! until cart-whips no longer tear human 
flesh — until the wo and waste of slavery cease. Onward ! 
until the groans of the oppressed be turned into songs of lib- 
erty, and the foulest stigma be removed from a nation calling 
itself free ! 



EXTRACT. 



' If there be, within the extent of cur knowledge and influence, 
any participation in this traffic in slaves, let us pledge ourselves upon 
the Rock of Plymouth, to extirpate and destroy it. It is not fit tliat the 
land of the pilgrims should bear the shame longer. Let that spot be 
purified, or let it be set aside from the Christian world; let it be put 
out of the circle of human sympathies and human regards; and let 
civilized men henceforth have no communion with it. 

'I invoke those who fill the seats of justice, and all who minister at 
her altar, that they exercise the wholesome and necessary severity of 
the law. I invoke the ministers of our religion, that they proclaim its 
denunciation of those crimes, and add its solemn sanction to the au- 
thority of human laws. If the pulpit be silent, whenever or wherever 
there may lie a sinner bloody with this guilt, within the hearing of its 
voice, the pulpit is false to its trust.'— DanteZ Webster. 



21 



DECLARATION 

OF THE 

NATIONAL ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION, 

Assembled in Philadelphia, December 4, 1833. 



The Convention, assembled in the city of Philadelphia to organize a 
National Anti-Slavery Society, promptly seize the opportunity to pro- 
mulgate the following DECLARATION OF SENTIMENTS, as 
cherished by them in relation to the enslavement of one-sixth portion 
of the American people. 

More than fifty-seven years have elapsed since a band of patriots 
convened in this place, to devise measures for the deliverance of this 
country from a foreign yoke. The corner-stone upon which they 
founded the Temple of Freedom was broadly this — 'that all men are 
created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain 
inalienable rights ; that among these are life, LIBERTY, and the pur- 
suit of happiness.' At the sound of their trumpet-call, three millions 
of people rose up as from the sleep of death, and rushed to the strife 
of blood; deeming it more glorious to die instantly as freemen, than 
desirable to live one hour as slaves. They were few in number ; poor 
in resources; but the honest conviction that Truth, Justice, and 
Right were on their side, made them invincible. 

We have met together for the achievement of an enterprise, without 
which, that of our fathers is incomplete ; and which, for its magnitude, 
solemnity, and probable results upon the destiny of the world, as far 
transcends theirs, as moral truth does physical force. 

In purity of motive, in earnestness of zeal, in decision of purpose, in 
intrepidity of action, in steadfastness of faith, in sincerity of spirit, we 
would not be inferior to them. 

Their principles led them to wage war against their oppressors, and 
to spill human blood like water, in order to be free. Ours forbid the 
doing of evil that good may come, and lead us to reject, and to entreat 
the oppressed to reject, the use of all carnal weapons for deliverance 
from bondage ; relying solely upon those which are spiritual, and 
mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds. 

Their measures were physical resistance — the marshalling in arms 
— the hostile array — the mortal encounter. Ours shall be such only 
as the opposition of moral purity to moral corruption — the destruction 
of error by the potency of truth — the overthrow of prejudice by the 
power of love — and the abolition of slavery by the spirit of repentance. 
Their grievances, great as they were, were trifling in comparison 
with the wrongs and sufferings of those for whom we plead. Our 
fathers were never slaves— never bought and sold like cattle — never 
shut out from the light of knowledge and religion — never subjected to 
the lash of brutal task-masters. 

But those for whose emancipation we are striving— constituting at the 
present time at least one-sixth part of our countrymen,— are recognized 
by the law, and treated by their fellow -beings, as marketable commodities 
— as goods and chattels — as brute beasts ; are plundered daily of the 
fruits of their toil without redress; really enjoying no constitutional 



22 

nor legal protection from licentious and murderous outrages upon their 
persons ; are ruthlessly torn asunder — the tender babe from the arms 
of its frantic mother — the heart-broken wife from her weeping hus- 
band — at the caprice or pleasure of irresponsible tyrants. For the 
crime of having a dark complexion, they suffer the pangs of hunger, 
the infliction of stripes, and the ignominy of brutal servitude. They 
are kept in heathenish darkness by laws expressly enacted to make 
their instruction a criminal offence. 

These are the prominent circumstances in the condition of more 
than two millions of our people, the proof of which may be found in 
thousands of indisputable facts, and in the laws of the slave-holding 
States. 

Hence we maintain — That in view of the civil and religious privi- 
leges of this nation, the guilt of its oppression is unequalled by any 
other on the face of the earth ; and, therefore, 

That it is bound to repent instantly, to undo the heavy burden, to 
break every yoke, and to let the oppressed go free. 

We further maintain — That no man has a right to enslave or imbrute 
his brother — to hold or acknowledge him, for one moment, as a piece 
of merchandize — to keep back his hire by fraud — or to brutalize his 
mind by denying him the means of intellectual, social, and moral 
improvement. 

The right to enjoy liberty is inalienable. To invade it, is to usurp 
the prerogative of Jehovah. Every man has a right to his own body 
— to the products of his own labor— to the protection of law—and to 
the common advantages of society. It is piracy to buy or steal a 
native African, and subject him to servitude. Surely the sin is as 
great to enslave an American as an African. 

Therefore we believe and affirm — That there is no difference, in 
principle, between the African slave trade and American slavery ; 

That every American citizen, who retains a human being in invol- 
untary bondage as his property, is [according to Scripture*] a majv- 
stealer ; 

That the slaves ought instantly to be set free, and brought under the 
protection of law ; 

That if they had lived from the time of Pharaoh down to the pres- 
ent period, and had been entailed through successive generations, their 
right to be free could never have been alienated, but their claims would 
have constantly risen in solemnity ; 

That all those laws which are now in force, admitting the right of 
slavery, are therefore before God utterly null and void ; being an 
audaucious usurpation of the Divine prerogative, a daring infringe- 
ment on the law of Nature, a base overthrow of the very lbundations 
of the social compact, a complete extinction of all the relations, endear- 
ments, and obligations of mankind, and a presumptuous transgression 
of all the holy commandments ; and that therefore they ought to be 
instantly abrogated. 

Wc further believe and affirm— That all persons of color who pos- 
sess the qualifications which are demanded of others, ought to be 
admitted forthwith to the enjoyment of the same privileges, and the 
exercise of the same prerogatives, as others ; and that the paths of 
preferment, of wealth, and of intelligence, should be opened as widely 
to them as to persons of a white complexion. 

We maintain that no compensation should be given to the planters 
emancipating their slaves; 

Because it would be a surrender of the great fundamental principle, 
that man cannot hold property in man ; 

* Kxod. xxi. 1(1 ; Deut. xxiv. 7. 



23 

Because Slavery is a crime, and therefore it is not an arti- 
cle TO BE SOLD ; 

Because the holders of slaves are not the just proprietors of what 
they claim ; — freeing the slaves is not depriving them of property, but 
restoring it to its right owners ; — it is not wronging the master, but 
righting the slave — restoring him to himself; 

Because immediate and general emancipation would only destroy 
nominal, not real property : it would not amputate a limb or break a 
bone of the slaves, but by infusing motives into their breasts, would 
make them doubly valuable to the masters as free laborers ; and 

Because if compensation is to be given at all, it should be given to 
the outraged and guiltless slaves, and not to those who have plundered 
and abused them. 

We regard as delusive, cruel and dangerous, any scheme of expatri- 
ation which pretends to aid, either directly or indirectly, in the eman- 
cipation of the slaves, or to be a substitute for the immediate and total 
abolition of slavery. 

We fully and unanimously recognize the sovereignty of each State, 
to legislate exclusively on the subject of slavery which is toler- 
ated within its limits. We concede that Congress, under the present 
national compact, has no right to interfere with any of the slave States 
in relation to this momentous subject. 

But we maintain that Congress has a right, and is solemnly bound 
to suppress the domestic slave-trade between the several States, and to 
abolish slavery in those portions of our territory which the constitution 
has placed under its exclusive jurisdiction. 

We also maintain that there are, at the present time, the highest ob- 
ligations resting upon the people of the free States, to remove slavery 
by moral and political action, as prescribed in the constitution of the 
United States. They are now living under a pledge of their tremen- 
dous physical force to fasten the galling fetters of tyranny upon the 
limbs of millions in the southern States ; they are liable to be called at 
any moment to suppress a general insurrection of the slaves ; they 
authorize the slave owner to vote for three-fifths of his slaves as prop- 
erty, and thus enable him to perpetuate his oppression ; they support a 
standing army at the south for its protection ; and they seize the slave 
who has escaped into their territories, and send him back to be tortured 
by an enraged master or a brutal driver. 

This relation to slavery is criminal and full of danger: it must be 
broken UP. 

These are our views and principles — these, our designs and meas- 
ures. With entire confidence in the overruling justice of God, we 
plant ourselves upon the Declaration of our Independence, and the 
truths of Divine Revelation, as upon the everlasting rock. 

We shall organize Anti-Slavery Societies, if possible, in every city, 
town and village in our land. 

We shall send forth Agents to lift up the voice of remonstrance, of 
warning, of entreaty and rebuke. 

We shall circulate, unsparingly and extensively, anti-slavery tracts 
and periodicals. 

We shall enlist the pulpit and the press in the cause of the suffer- 
ing and the dumb. 

We shall aim at a purification of the churches from all participation 
in the guilt of slavery. 

We shall encourage the labor of freemen rather than that of the 
slaves, by giving a preference to their productions ; and 

We shall spare no exertions nor means to bring the whole nation to 
speedy repentance. 



•24 

Our trust for victory is solely in GOD. We may be personally de- 
feated, but our principles never. Truth, Justice, Reason, Humani- 
ty, must and will gloriously triumph. Already a host is coming up to 
the help of the Lord against the mighty, and the prospect before us is 
full of encouragement. 

Submitting this DECLARATION to the candid examination of the 
people of this country, and of the friends of liberty throughout the world, 
we hereby affix our signatures to it ; pledging ourselves that, under 
ihe guidance and by the help of Almighty God, we will do all that in 
us lies, consistently with this Declaration of our principles, to overthrow 
the most execrable system of slavery that has ever been witnessed up- 
on earth ; to deliver our land from its deadliest curse ; to wipe out the 
foulest stain which rests upon our national escutcheon ; and to secure 
to the colored population of the United States all the rights and privi- 
leges which belong to them as men and as Americans — come what 
may to our persons, our interests, or our reputations — whether we live 
to witness the triumph of Liberty, Justice and Humanity, or perish 
untimely as martyrs in this great, benevolent and holy cause. 

Signed in the Adelphi Hall, in the City of Philadelphia, on the sixth 
day of December, A. D. 1833. 



EXTRACTS 



' Never was a system so big with wickedness or cruelty ; in whatever 
part of it you direct your view, the eye finds no comfort, no satisfac- 
tion, no relief. It is the^prerogative of slavery to separate from evil its 
concomitant good, and to reconcile discordant mischiefs ; it robs war 
of its generosity, it deprives peace of its security. You have the vices 
of polished society without its knowledge or its comforts ; and the 
evils of barbarism without its simplicity. Its ravages are constant and 
unintermitted in the extent; in the continuance, universal and indis- 
criminate. No age, no sex, no rank, no condition is exempt from the 
fatal influence of this wide-wasting calamity! Thus it is the full 
measure of pure, unmixed, unsophisticated wickedness; and scorning 
all competition or comparison, it stands without a rival in the secure, 
undisputed possession of its detestable pre-eminence.' — Jf'ilberforce. 

' Tell those who would paralyze your exertions in this righteous 
cause, by anticipations of danger, or Considerations of national policy, 
that, whatever is moral duty, can never, ultimately, be a political evil ; 
that to do evil that good may come— or to avoid good, lest evil should 
come, is as croo^jpd a doctrine in Polities as it is in Divinity; .and if a 
Heathen could exclaim, " Fiat justitia ruut C'ff/i/w," well may the 
Christian adopt similar language, with his clearer views, and stronger 
confidence in the superintendence and protection of a Power as 
Omnipotent as Just!' - -Abolitionist' 's Catechism. 

' ( feme forward, we beseech you, as men, and as Christians ; temper? 
atcly, but fearlessly ; constitutionally, but decidedly, in the support of 
every legitimate measure for the utter abolition of a system which no 
prospect of private gain, no consideration of public advantage, DO plea 
of political expediency, can suffi< iently justify or excuse : thus will you 
extend the blessings of Liberty to hundreds of thousands of your fel- 
low creatures; hold up to an enlightened world a glorious and merci- 
ful example, and stand among the foremost in the defence of the 
violated rights of Human PfaturK*— -Jhiti- Slavery Tract. 



-%5¥- 



SPEECH 



OF 



SENATOK DOUGLAS, 



BEFORE THE 



LEGISLATURE OF ILLINOIS, 

APRIL 25, 1861, 

In compliance with a Joint Resolution of the tivo Houses. 



The joint session of the Legislature having assembled in the hall of 
the House of Representatives, Senator Douglas, accompanied by several 
friends, entered at a quarter to eight. Mr. Speaker Cullom then intro- 
duced him to the Legislature. 



Mr. DOUGLAS said : 

Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Repre- 
sentatives : 

I am not insensible to the patriotic motives which have prompted 
you to do me the honor to invite me to address you on the momentous 
issues now presented in the condition of our country. With a heart 
filled with sadness and grief I proceed to comply with your request. 

For the first time since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, a 
wide-spread conspiracy exists to destroy the best government the sun 
of heaven ever shed its rays upon. [Applause.] Hostile armies are 
now marching upon the Federal Capitol, with a view of planting a 
revolutionary flag upon its dome; seizing the national archives; taking 
captive the president elected by the votes of the people, and holding 
him in the hands of secessionists and disunionists. A war of aggres- 
sion and of extermination is being waged against the government estab- 
lished by our fathers. The boast has gone forth by the authorities of 
this revolutionary government, that on the first day of May the revo- 



x^ 



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v 



lutionary flag shall float from the walls of the capital at ^Washington, 
and that on the fourth day of July the rebel army shall hold possession 
of the Hall of Independence in Philadelphia. 

The simple question presented to us is, whether we will wait for the 
enemy to carry out his boast of making war upon our soil ; or whether 
we will rush as one man to the defense of the government and its capi- 
tal, and defend it from the hands of all assailants who have threatened 
to destroy it. [Great enthusiasm.] Already the piratical flag has been 
unfurled against the commerce of the United States. Letters of marque 
have been issued, appealing to the pirates of the world to assemble 
under that revolutionary flag, and commit depredations on the com- 
merce carried on under the stars and stripes. The navigation of our 
great river into the Gulf of Mexico is obstructed. Hostile batteries 
have been planted upon its banks ; custom houses have already been 
established ; and we are required now to pay tribute and taxes, without 
having a voice in making the laws imposing them, or having a share in 
the proceeds after they have been collected. The question is, whether 
this war of aggression shall proceed, and weremain with folded arms, 
inattentive spectators ; or whether we shall meet the aggressors at the 
threshold and turn back the tide of revolution and usurpation. 

So long as there was a hope of peaceful solution, 1 prayed and 
implored for compromise. I can appeal to my countrymen with confi- 
dence that I have spared no effort, omitted no opportunity, to secure a 
peaceful solution of all these troubles, and thus restore peace, happiness 
and fraternity to this country. "When all propositions of peace fail, 
and a war of aggression is proclaimed, there is but one course left for 
the patriot, and that is to rally under that flag which has waved over 
the Capitol from the days of Washington, and around the government 
established by Washington, Madison, Hamilton, and their compeers. 
[Great cheering.] 

What is the alleged cause for this invasion of the rights and author- 
ity of the government of the United States ? The cause alleged is that 
the institutions of the Southern States are not safe under the Federal 
Government. What evidence has been presented that they are inse- 
cure? I appeal to every man within the sound of my voice to tell me 
at what period, from the time that Washington was inaugurated down 
to this hour, have the rights of the Southern States — the rights of the 
slaveholders — been more secure than they are at this moment \ "When 
in the whole history of this government have they stood on so linn a 
basis? For the firsl time in the history of this Republic, there is no 
restriction by act of Congress upon the institution of slavery, anywhere 



within the limits of the United States. Then it cannot be the territo- 
rial question that has given them a cause tor rebellion. When was the 
fugitive slave law executed with more fidelity than since the inaugura- 
tion of the present incumbent of the presidential office? [Much 
applause.] Let the people of Chicago speak and tell us when were the 
laws of the land executed with as much firmness and fidelity, so far as 
the fugitive slaves are concerned, as they are now. Can any man tell 
me of any one act of aggression that has been committed cr attempted 
since the'last presidential election, that justifies this violent disruption 
of the Federal Union ? 

I ask you to reflect, and then point out any one act that has been 
c l one _any one duty that has been omitted to be done— of which any 
one of these disunionists can justly complain. Yet we are told, simply 
because a certain political party has succeeded in a presidential election, 
they choose to consider that their liberties are not safe, and therefore 
they are justified in breaking up the government ! 

I had supposed that it was a cardinal and fundamental principle of 
our system of government that the decision of the people at the ballot- 
box, without fraud, according to the forms of the Constitution, was to 
command the implicit obedience of every good citizen. [Loud 
applause.] If defeat at a presidential election is to justify the minority, 
or any portion of the minority, in raising the traitorous hand of rebel- 
lion against the constituted authorities, you will find the future history 
of the" United States written in the history of Mexico. According to 
my reading of Mexican history, there has never been one presidential 
term, from the time of the revolution of 1820 down to this day, 
when the candidate elected by the people ever served his four years. 
In every instance, either the defeated candidate has seized upon the 
presidential chair by the use of the bayonet, or he has turned out the 
duly elected president before his term expired. Are we to inaugurate 
this Mexican system in the United States of America? [No ! never !] 
Suppose the case to be reversed. Suppose the Disunion candidate had 
been elected by any means— I care not what, if by any means in 
accordance with the forms of the Constitution— at the last presidential 
election. Then, suppose the Republicans had raised a rebellion against 
his authority. In that case you would have found me tendering my 
best efforts' and energies to John C. Breckinridge to put down the 
Republican rebels. [Tremendous applause.] And if you had attempted 
such a rebellion, I would have justified him in calling forth all the 
power and energies of this country to have crushed you out. [Con- 
tinued applause.] 



The first duty of an American citizen, or of a citizen of any consti- 
tutional government, is obedience to the constitution and laws of his 
country. [Applause.] I have no apprehension that any man in Illi- 
nois, or beyond the limits of our own beloved State, will misconstrue or 
misunderstand my motive. So far as any of the partisan questions are 
concerned, I stand in equal, irreconcilable and undying opposition both 
to the Republicans and the Secessionists. [Applause.] You all know- 
that I am a very good partisan fighter in partisan times. [Laughter 
and cheers.] And I trust you will find me equally as good a patriot 
when the country is in danger. [Cheers.] 

Now permit me to say to the assembled Representatives and Senators 
of our beloved State, composed of men of both political parties, in my 
opinion it is your duty to lay aside, for the time being, your party 
creeds and party platforms ; to dispense with your party organizations 
and partisan appeals; to forget that you were ever divided, until you 
have rescued the government and the country from their assailants. 
When this paramount duty shall have been performed, it will be proper 
for each of us to resume our respective political positions, according to 
our convictions of public duty. [Applause.] Give me a country first, 
that my children may live in peace ; then we will have a theatre for our 
party organizations to operate upon. 

Are we to be called upon to fold our arms, allow the national capital 
to be seized by a military force under a foreign revolutionary flag; to 
see the archives of the government in the hands of a people who affect 
to despise the flag and government of the United States? I am not 
willing to be expelled by military force, nor to fly from the Federal 
Capital. It has been my daily avocation, six mouths in the year, for 
eighteen years, to walk into that marble building, and from its portico 
to survey a prosperous, happy and united country on both sides of the 
Potomac. I believe I may with confidence appeal to the people of 
every section ot the country to bear testimony that I have been as 
thoroughly national in my political opinions and action as any man that 
has lived in my day. [Applause.] And I believe if I Bhould make an 
appeal to the people of the State of Illinois, or of the Northern Stales, 
for their impartial verdict, they would say that whatever errors I have 
committed have been in leaning too far to the southern section oi the 
Union against my own. [Applause.] I think I can appeal to friend 
and foe: I use the term in a political sense, and I trust I use the word 
foe in a past sense. [Much applause.] I can appeal to them with 
confidence, that I have never pandered to the prejudice or passion of 
my section against the minority section of this [Jnion; ami I will say 



to yon now, with all frankness and in all sincerity, that I will never 
sanction nor acquiesce in any warfare whatever upon the constitutional 
rights or domestic institutions of the people of the Southern States. 
[Applause.] On the contrary, if there was an attempt to invade those 
rights — to stir up servile insurrection among their people — I would 
rush to their rescue, and interpose with whatever of strength I mioht 
possess to defend them from such a calamity. [Applause.] While I 
will never invade them — while I will never tail to defend and protect 
their rights to the full extent that a fair and liberal construction of the 
Constitution can give them— they must distinctly understand that I 
will never acquiesce in their invasion of our constitutional rights. 

It is a crime against the inalienable and indefeasible right of every 
American citizen to attempt to destroy the government under which we 
were bom. It is a crime against constitutional freedom and the hopes 
of tjie friends of freedom throughout the wide world to attempt to blot 
out the United States from the map of Christendom. Yet this attempt 
is now being made. The government of our fathers is to be overthrown 
and destroyed. The capital that bears the name of the Father of his 
Country is to be bombarded, and leveled to the earth among the rub 
bish and the dust of things that are past. The records of your govern- 
ment are to lie scattered to the four winds of heaven. The constituted 
authorities, placed there by the same high authority that placed Wash- 
ington, and Jefferson, and Madison, and Jackson in the chair, are to be 
captured and carried off, to become a by-word and a scorn to the nations 
of the world. [Never ! never !] 

You may think that lam drawing a picture that is overwrought. 
No man who has spent the last week in the city of Washington will 
believe that I have done justice to it. You have all the elements of 
the French Revolution surrounding the capital now, and threatenino- it 
with its terrors. Not only is our constitutional government to be 
stricken down ; not only is our flag to be blotted out ; but the very 
foundations of social order are to be undermined and destroved; the 
demon of destruction is to be let loose over the face of the land, a reio-n 
of terror and mob law is to prevail in each section of the Union, and 
the man who dares to plead for the cause of justice and moderation in 
either section is to be marked down as a traitor to his section. If this 
state ot things is allowed to go on, how long before you will have the 
guillotine in active operation? 

I appeal to you, my countrymen — men of all parties— not to allow 
your passions to get the better ot your judgments. Do not allow your 
vengeance upon the authors of this great iniquity to lead you into rash, 



and cruel, and desperate acts upon loyal citizens who may differ with 
you in opinion. Let the spirit of moderation and of justice prevail. 
You cannot expect, within so few weeks after an excited political can- 
vass, that every man can rise to the high and patriotic level of forget- 
ting his partisan prejudices and sacrifice everything upon the altar of 
his country; but allow me to say to you, whom I have opposed and 
warred against with an energy you will respect, allow me to say to 
you, you will not be true to your country if you ever attempt to manu- 
facture partisan capital out of the misfortunes of your country. [Much 
applause.] When calling upon Democrats to rally to the tented held, 
leaving wife, child, father and mother behind them to rush to the rescue 
of the President that you elected, do not make war upon them and try 
to manufacture partisan capital at their expense out of a struggle in 
which they are engaged from the holiest and purest of motives. [Re- 
newed applause.] 

Then I appeal to you, my own Democratic friends — those men that 
have never failed to rally under the glorious banner of the country, 
whenever an enemy, at home or abroad, has dared to assail it— to you 
with whom it has always been my pride to act — do not allow the morti- 
fication, growing out of defeat in a partisan struggle, and the elevation 
of a party to power that we firmly believed to be dangerous to the 
country — do not let that convert you from patriots into traitors to your 
native land. [Long continued applause.] Whenever our government 
is assailed — when hostile armies are marching, under new and odious 
banners against the government of our country, the shortest way to 
peace is the most stupendous and unanimous preparation for war. 
[Tremendous applause.] The greater the unanimity the less blood will 
be shed. [Much applause.] The more prompt and energetic the 
movement and the more imposing in numbers, the shorter will be the 
struggle. 

Every friend of freedom — every champion and advocate of constitu- 
tional liberty throughout the land must feel that this cause is his own. 
There is and should be nothing disagreeable or humiliating to men 
who have differed, in times of peace, on every question that could 
divide fellow-men, to rally in concert in defence of the country and 
against all assailants. While all the States of this Union, and every 
citizen of every State has a priceless legacy dependent upon the success 
of our efforts to maintain this govoi linient, we in the great valley oi the 
Mississippi have peculiar interests and inducements to the struggle. 
What is the attempt now being made? Seven States of ibis I nimi 
chose to declare that they will no longer obey the constitution of the 
United States, that they will withdraw from the government established 
by our fathers; that they will dissolve, without our consent, the bonds 



that have united us together. But, not content with that, they proceed 
to invade and obstruct our dearest and most inalienable rights, secured 
by the constitution. One of their first acts is to establish a battery of 
cannon upon the banks of the Mississippi, on the dividing line between 
the States of Mississippi and Tennessee, and require every steamer that 
passes down the river to come to under their guns to receive a custom 
house ofticer on board, to prescribe where the boat may land, and upon 
what terms it may put out a barrel of flour or a cask of bacon. 

We are called upon to sanction this policy. Before consenting to 
their right to commit such acts, I implore you to consider that the same 
principle which will allow the cotton States to exclude us from the 
ports of the gulf, would authorize the New England States and New 
York and Pennsylvania to exclude us from the Atlantic, and the Pacific 
States to exclude us from the ports of that ocean. Whenever you 
sanction this doctrine of secession, you authorize the States bordering 
upon the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to withdraw from us, form alli- 
ances among themselves, and exclude us from the markets of the world 
and from communication with all the rest of Christendom. Not only 
this, but there follows a tariff on imports, levying taxes upon every 
pound of tea and coffee and sugar, and every yard of cloth that we may 
import for our consumption ; the levying, too, of an export duty upon 
every bushel of corn and every pound of meat we may choose to send 
to the markets of the world to pay for our imports. 

Bear in mind that these very cotton States, who in former times have 
been so boisterous in their demands for free trade, have, among their 
first acts, established an export duty on cotton for the first time in 
American history. 

It is a historical fact, well known to every man who has read the 
debates of the Convention which framed the constitution, that the 
Southern States refused to become parties to the constitution unless 
there was an express provision in the constitution prohibiting Congress 
to levy an export duty on any product of the country. No sooner have 
these cotton States seceded than an export duty is levied ; and if they 
will levy it on their own cotton do you not think they will levy it on 
our pork, and our beef, and our corn, and our wheat, and our manufac- 
tured articles and all we have to sell? Then what is the proposition? 
It is to enable the tier of States bordering on the Atlantic and the 
Pacitic, and on the Gulf, surrounding us on all sides, to withdraw from 
our Union — form alliances among themselves and then levy taxes on 
us without our consent and collect revenue without giving us any just 
proportion or any portion of the amount collected. Can we submit to 
taxation without representation ? [Several voices "no.' 1 ] Can we per- 
mit nations foreign to us to collect revenues off our products — the fruits 
of our industry ? I ask the citizens of Illinois — I ask every citizen in 
the great basin between the Rocky Mountains and the Allegbanies, in 
the valleys of the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri to tell me whether he 
is willing to sanction a line of policy that may isolate us from the mar- 
kets of the world and make us dependent provinces upon powers that 
thus choose to surrcund and hem us in \ [Many voices "no," and 
"never."] 



s 



I warn you, my countrymen, whenever you permit this to be done in 
the Southern States, New York will very soon follow their example. 
New York — that great port, where two-thirds of all our revenue is col- 
lected, and whence two-thirds of our products are exported, will not 
long be able to resist the temptation of taxing fifteen millions of people 
in the great West when she can monopolize the resources and release 
her own people thereby from any taxation whatsoever. Hence I say 
to you, my countrymen, from the best consideration I have been able to 
give to this subject, after the most mature reflection and thorough in- 
vestigation, 1 have arrived at the conclusion that, come what may, war, 
if it must be, although I deplore it as a great calamity, yet, come what 
mav, the people of the Mississippi Valley can never consent to be ex- 
cluded from free access to the ports of the Atlantic, the Pacific and the 
Gulf of Mexico. [Great applause.] 

Hence, I repeat that while 1 am not prepared to take up arms or to 
sanction war upon the rights of the Southern States; upon their domes- 
tic institutions; upon their rights of person or property, but, on the 
contrary, would rush to their defense and protect them from assault, I 
will never cease to urge my countrymen to take up arms and to tight to 
the death in defense of our indefeasible rights. [Long continued ap- 
plause.] Hence, if a war does come, it will be a war of self-defense on 
our part. It will be a war in defense of our own just rights ; in defense 
of the government which we have inherited as a priceless legacy from 
our patriotic fathers; in defense of those great lights of the freedom of 
trade commerce, transit and intercourse from the center to the circum- 
ference of our great continent. These are rights we can never sur- 
render. 

I have struggled almost against hope to avert the calamities of war 
and to effect a re-union and reconciliation with our brethren of the 
South. I yet hope it may be done, but I am not able to point out to 
you how it may be be effected. Nothing short of Pro\ idence can reveal 
to us the issue of this great struggle. Bloody — calamitous — I fear it 
will be. May we so conduct it if a collision must come, that we will 
stand justified in the eyes of Him who knows our hearts, and who will 
judge our every act. We must not yield to resentments, nor to the 
spirit Of vengeance, much less to the desire for conquest or ambition. 

I see no path of ambition open in a bloody struggle for triumph over 
my own countrymen. There is no path for ambition open lor me in a 
divided country, after having so long served a united a: d glorious coun- 
try. Hence, whatever wo may do must be the result of conviction, of 
patriotic duty— the duty that we owe to ourselves, to <»ur posterity, and 
to the friends of constitutional liberty and self-government throughout 
the world. [Loud applause.] 

My friends, 1 can say no more. To discuss these topics is the most 
painful duty of my life* It is with a sad heart— with a grief that 1 have 
never before experienced, that 1 have to contemplate this tearful strug- 
gle; hut I believe in my oonsciennce thai it is a duty we owe ourselves 
and our children, and our God, to protect this Government and thai 
flag from every assailant, he he who he may. [Tremendous and pro- 
longed ;ipplau>i'. I 

Ou motion of Mr. Hacker, the House adjourned. 

54 W 



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